Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should: (1) denounce repressive foreign governments that engage in Internet jamming; (2) direct the U.S. Representative to the United Nations (UN) to submit a resolution condemning repressive foreign governments that engage in Internet jamming and deny their citizens the freedom to access and share information on the Internet; and (3) deploy technologies aimed at defeating state-sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repressive foreign governments, and the intimidation and persecution by such governments of their citizens who use the Internet.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4741 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4741
To develop and deploy technologies to defeat Internet jamming.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 14, 2006
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Weller, Mr.
Schiff, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Issa, Mr.
McCotter, Mrs. Musgrave, and Mr. Simmons) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To develop and deploy technologies to defeat Internet jamming.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Global Internet Freedom Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of
association are fundamental characteristics of a free society.
The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees that
``Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble . . .''. These constitutional provisions guarantee
the rights of Americans to communicate and associate with one
another without restriction, including unfettered communication
and association via the Internet. Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations explicitly
guarantees the freedom to ``receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers''.
(2) All peoples have the right to communicate freely with
others, and to have unrestricted access to news and
information, including on the Internet.
(3) With nearly 14 percent of the population of the world
now online, and an increasing number of people gaining access
to the Internet each day, the Internet stands to become the
most powerful engine for democratization and the free exchange
of ideas ever invented.
(4) Unrestricted access to news and information on the
Internet is a check on authoritarian rule by repressive foreign
governments in countries around the world.
(5) The governments of Burma, Cuba, Iran, Laos, the
Maldives, North Korea, the People's Republic of China, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, and Vietnam, among others, are taking active
measures to prevent their citizens from freely accessing the
Internet and from obtaining international political, religious,
and economic news and information.
(6) Intergovernmental, nongovernmental, and media
organizations have reported the widespread and increasing
pattern by repressive foreign governments of Internet jamming,
including jamming, censoring, blocking, monitoring, and
restricting Internet access and content by using technologies
such as firewalls, filters, and ``black boxes''. Such
interference with individual activity on the Internet includes
surveillance of e-mail messages, message boards, and the use of
particular words, ``stealth blocking'' individuals from
visiting particular websites, the development of ``black
lists'' of users who seek to visit these websites, and the
complete denial of access to the Internet.
(7) The websites of the Voice of America and Radio Free
Asia, as well as hundreds of news sources with an Internet
presence, are routinely being jammed by repressive governments.
(8) Since the 1940s, the United States has deployed anti-
jamming technologies to make Voice of America and other United
States-sponsored radio broadcasting available to peoples in
countries with governments that seek to block news and
information.
(9) The United States has thus far commenced only modest
steps to fund and deploy technologies to defeat Internet
jamming. To date, for example, the Voice of America and Radio
Free Asia have committed a total of $3,000,000 for technology
to counter Internet jamming of their websites by the People's
Republic of China. This technology has been relied upon by
Voice of America and Radio Free Asia to ensure access to their
programming, and it has successfully permitted 100,000
electronic hits per day from users in China. However, United
States financial support for this technology has lapsed. In
most other countries there is no meaningful United States
support for Internet freedom.
(10) The success of United States policy in support of
freedom of speech, press, and association requires new
initiatives to defeat totalitarian and authoritarian controls
on news and information over the Internet.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to adopt an effective and robust global Internet
freedom policy;
(2) to establish an office within the International
Broadcasting Bureau with the sole mission of countering
Internet jamming by repressive foreign governments;
(3) to expedite the development and deployment of
technologies to protect Internet freedom in countries around
the world;
(4) to authorize a substantial portion of United States
international broadcasting resources to be committed to the
continued development and implementation of technologies to
counter Internet jamming by repressive foreign governments;
(5) to utilize the expertise of the private sector in the
development and implementation of such technologies, so that
the many current technologies used commercially for securing
business transactions and providing virtual meeting spaces can
be used to promote democracy and freedom in countries around
the world; and
(6) to bring to bear the pressure of the free world on
repressive foreign governments that engage in Internet jamming
and the intimidation and persecution by such governments of
their citizens who use the Internet.
SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF TECHNOLOGIES TO DEFEAT INTERNET
JAMMING AND CENSORSHIP.
(a) Establishment of Office of Global Internet Freedom.--There is
established in the International Broadcasting Bureau the Office of
Global Internet Freedom (in this Act referred to as the ``Office'').
The Office shall be headed by a Director who shall develop and
implement a comprehensive global strategy to combat state-sponsored and
state-directed Internet jamming by repressive foreign governments, and
the intimidation and persecution by such governments of their citizens
who use the Internet.
(b) Cooperation of Other Federal Departments and Agencies.--Each
department and agency of the United States Government shall cooperate
fully with, and assist in the implementation of, the strategy developed
by the Office and shall make such resources and information available
to the Office as is necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act.
(c) Report to Congress.--Not later than March 1 of the year
following the date of the enactment of this Act and one year
thereafter, the Director of the Office shall submit to Congress a
report on the status of state-sponsored and state-directed Internet
jamming by repressive foreign governments and a description of efforts
by the United States to counter such jamming. Each report shall list
the countries the governments of which engage in Internet jamming,
provide information concerning the government agencies or quasi-
governmental organizations of such governments that engage in Internet
jamming; and describe with the greatest particularity practicable the
technological means by which such jamming is accomplished. If the
Director determines that such is appropriate, the Director may submit
such report together with a classified annex.
(d) Limitation on Authority.--Nothing in this Act shall be
interpreted to authorize any action by the United States to interfere
with Internet jamming by a repressive foreign government if such
jamming is in furtherance of legitimate law enforcement aims that are
consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Office $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years
2007 and 2008.
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States should--
(1) publicly, prominently, and consistently denounce
repressive foreign governments that engage in Internet jamming;
(2) direct the United States Representative to the United
Nations to submit a resolution at the next annual meeting of
the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemning
repressive foreign governments that engage in Internet jamming
and deny their citizens the freedom to access and share
information on the Internet; and
(3) deploy, at the earliest practicable date, technologies
aimed at defeating state-sponsored and state-directed Internet
jamming by repressive foreign governments and the intimidation
and persecution by such governments of their citizens who use
the Internet.
SEC. 6. DEFINITION.
In this Act, the term ``Internet jamming'' means jamming,
censoring, blocking, monitoring, or restricting Internet access and
content by using technologies such as firewalls, filters, and ``black
boxes''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
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